Shooting Koi in a Barrel
by Turnertable
Summary: Hiro and the rest of BH6 were pretty good at keeping crime rates in San Fransokyo low. But when a new threat emerges, one that constantly seems to slip through their fingers, will they be able protect the citizens of their city? And is something even more sinister going on below the surface? Rated T for language and violence. Post-movie
1. Prologue

**I was really inspired by the drawings of the Fujitas in the Big Hero 6 art book, and wanted to write a story that not only incorporated them, but gave some of them backstories. The prologue here just gives a bit of Koneko's backstory to make some of what will happen in the main story make sense. Don't worry, it'll shift to be Hiro and BH6-centric in chapter one!**

**Comments and critiques welcome and encouraged! (and seriously, if you haven't seen the concept art, just google 'Big Hero 6 - Fujitas')**

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_**Prologue**_

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Her face rested in her hand as she slumped over her desk, eyes cast downwards at the little figures she was doodling on her paper. She'd never liked History much, anyway, and it didn't help that History class was sixth period; the last class of the day. She hardly ever paid attention. She knew they were talking about Napoleon, but she couldn't tell you more than that. She was too engrossed in her drawings; several cats dressed up as Sailor Moon characters.

"…And questions 1-17 will be due tomorrow in class," her teacher called, just as the end-of-day bell rung. No one bothered to write the homework down, the entire class was too busy hurriedly shoving their papers and books into backpacks, so they could presumably all try to elbow their way out of the classroom at the same time. Koneko wasn't in any hurry, though. She almost always waited till the rush was gone before leaving, and today, she really wanted to finish her doodle. She was just about finished with a Siamese dressed in Sailor Venus' outfit, when her notebook was snatched away from her abruptly.

"Huh, nice drawing," Rini sneered, flipping through the other pages. Koneko snatched for the book back, but Rini handed it off to Haru, who was a fair bit taller than either of the girls. He held it out of Konako's reach. Standing, her face red, she held her hand out expectantly.

"Give it back, guys!" she said, her voice quivering slightly.

"Why?" Rini asked, crossing her arms. Her hair was pulled back in two small cinnamon-buns, and around her neck was one of those crochet-chokers that were so popular at the moment. Her dark eyes narrowed as her face contorted into a mean smile. "So you can keep drawing your stupid little manga-drawings?"

"They're not-" Koneko started, but gasped as Haru started to pull pages out of the notebook, crumpling them as he did, and letting them fall to the floor. "Hey! Stop!"

"You're not even Japanese," Rini said, giggling slightly as the target of her bullying tried to jump up and stop Haru from destroying her drawings. "So why don't you do everyone a favor and stop being so stupid?"

"I AM Japanese!" Koneko said, tears welling up in her eyes. She resorted to just catching the balls of crumpled paper as they fell, hugging them to her chest. "My mother is Japanese!"

"Shut up!" Stooping to shove Koneko over, Rini scowled down at her. "You're so ugly, I wouldn't even let my dog kiss you." Stepping on Koneko's backpack as she walked towards the door, Haru followed, dropping the ruined notebook beside the crying girl. Once she was alone, she began scooping the balled up papers into her bag, sniffling and trying to hold back the dam of tears behind her eyes.

She made her way across campus, towards the southern end, where she usually hopped a short fence and walked home. But as she walked, she couldn't help but feel everyone's eyes on her. Ever since she'd moved to San Fransokyo, she'd been nothing but an M&amp;M in a bag of skittles. She'd never really fit in with the white kids, and never really fit in with the Japanese kids. Middle school had only made her stand out more.

She didn't know why it had to be this way. If not for her eyes, she could have easily passed for Japanese; rounder than other kid's eyes, with a half-lid, and a very distinctly un-Japanese amber color. Everything else was passable. She'd been begging her mother for colored contacts for years now, but she always got the same answer; 'You have your father's eyes, and they are beautiful! Why would you want to cover them up?' It didn't matter, though. If her eyes didn't give her away, her last name would. Andrews wasn't exactly a very Asian surname. And everyone in her grade already knew her lineage.

"If it wasn't for stupid Rini!" Koneko whispered, squeezing her eyes shut as she walked, holding her bag tighter to her chest. Racism wasn't exactly what San Fransokyo was known for; in fact, one of the major reasons her family had moved here in the fourth grade was because of how diverse and tolerant the city was billed to be. Koneko would have had a perfectly fine time finding friends in elementary school, if it hadn't been for Rini and her gang of friends. She didn't know why Rini hated her so much, but from the first time Koneko had smiled at the girl, and Rini'd told her to 'turn your gross round eyes away from me!', it had been hell for the little girl. It still was.

Koneko didn't turn right after she'd clamored over the fence on the far side of the middle school's campus. After a moment of hesitation, she continued on straight, walking down a fairly large hill. The sun was about three hours from setting, but clouds drifted across it every now and then, casting shade on the sleepy city. It didn't take the sixth grader very long to reach the little park by the bay.

It was small, and a little on the over-grown side, but there was the most beautiful cherry-blossom tree, overlooking the water that Koneko liked to sit under. The afternoon breeze ruffled the skirt on her school uniform, and she stooped to sit down in the grass beside the gnarled old tree. Then, one by one, she took her papers from her bag, and began to smooth them out.

"Oh, jeez!" As Koneko was uncrumpling a particularly elaborate drawing she'd done in math a few days ago, several girls in her school's uniform stopped on the sidewalk, one of them pointing to Koneko. "Look who it is! Playing with her stupid drawings, cuz they're her only friends!" It wasn't Rini, but she looked similar, as her hair was pulled back in the same little buns as Rini's had been. This girl was taller, though, and wore far too much make up. Flocking her were several other girls who took her cue and started to snicker and laugh at Koneko as well. She tried to ignore them.

"Look, I think we're making her mad!" another girl said, this time in Japanese. The first girl, whose name was Yumi, sidestepped a few bushes and walked right up to Koneko.

"What's wrong," she asked, bending to try and get a god look at her victim. "Mad cuz everyone knows what a weird loser you are?"

"I'm not a loser!" she lashed out, scowling up at her abuser, who merely tossed her head back and laughed.

"Oh yes, you are!" she taunted, snatching the uncrumpled pile of drawings at Koneko's side, and over to the crest of the hill. "And your drawings are shit, too!" Tossing them over the side of the hill, Koneko jumped up in vain, as her drawings fluttered in the wind and out of her grasp.

"No!" she yelled, as she watched several get swept up and taken far away.

"Serves you right, for being such a stupid white-fa-AHH!" Yumi was shoved sideways as a streak of color whipped past her. The person skidded to a stop a few feet away, tearing up clumps of the grass in their skates. Yumi's group of friends shrieked at the sudden intruder, and scrambled, going in any direction, as long as it was out of the park. Yumi scowled at the new comer, who straightened up, and scowled over their shoulder at her. "Excuse you!" Yumi said, though she immediately backed down when the person turned.

She was quite tall, especially for a girl. Her hair was pulled up in a tangled knot on top of her head, several chopsticks stuck in it haphazardly. She wore the uniform of a different school, though her black socks did not match the white uniform, and Koneko was fairly certain neither rollerskates nor overly large happi jackets were any school's uniform.

"'Scuse me, Princess," the girl said sarcastically, cocking a penciled eyebrow, "but it looks like you were just leaving." Yumi looked offended, and her eyes darted to Koneko, but evidently figured it wasn't worth the trouble, and she turned with a huff.

"Whatever. See you at school, loser," she sneered, and trumped off to find her scattered friends. Koneko let out a small sigh of relief, and cautiously looked up at the girl on skates. She was eyeing Yumi as she left, her eyes narrowed. When she was sure the bully had left, she turned her steely gray gaze towards Koneko.

"Hey," she barked, her voice too course for a mere middle schooler. Koneko flinched heavily, which caused the rollerskate-girl to smirk in amusement. She reached into the overly-large sleeves of the jacket she wore, and Koneko froze, worried she might pull a knife out, but all she withdrew was a piece of paper. She held it out to her. "Sorry. I only caught this one. The other ones are probably lost."

"Oh!" Stunned, it took Koneko a moment to process what the girl was holding before she reached out and took it. "…Thank you."

"That's pretty good, though," the girl continued, nodding to the paper. It had little drawings of sharks on it. "You draw a lot?"

"Um…yeah," Koneko admitted, holding the paper to her chest.

"You draw koi fish?" This took her off guard again, but she nodded numbly. The girl grinned wide, and she shoved her hands in her pockets.

"Sweet! Cuz Lily's convinced she can draw, but she sucks at it, don't tell her I said that. And we need someone to draw us a logo real bad, so it's a good thing I ran into you!" Making her way to the paved sidewalk, she jerked her head towards Koneko, indicating the girl to follow. "The name's Matsu, by the way. Matsu Hanadori." She turned, surprised to see Koneko still standing beneath the cherry blossom tree. "Well, c'mon!" she said, "are you coming, or aren't you?"

"Oh!" Snapping out of it, Koneko snatched up her bag, and shoved the paper into it. She jogged to catch up to Matsu. "Yes! Sorry!"

"We got some skates back at the house," Matsu said, forcing herself to go slowly so Koneko could keep up. "I'm not used to going this slow. What'd you say your name was again?"

"I didn't," Koneko said, tucking a long strand of jet black hair behind her ear. "But it's Koneko Andrews."

"Ooooh, so that's why she was gonna call you white-face," Matsu said. She spun around, taking a hard look at her shorter companion, which made Koneko's face turn a light shade of pink. "Hmmm, well, I'll just call you fire-eyes," the girl said, snapping her fingers. "Yeah, much better! C'mon, Fire-eyes, it's just a few blocks this way." She led the way as Koneko followed, and a small smile broke out on her face. She didn't know exactly what she was getting herself into, but she did know one thing.

Matsu was already more of a friend than anyone she'd met in this city.


	2. Chapter One - Alleyway

**Chapter One – Alleyway**

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"C'mon, Yama, you're killing me here!" Hiro threw his hands up. "After everything we've been through? I pulled some serious strings, dude, and you KNOW no one has the hook up like you do!" The large man who sat behind the counter, partially hidden in shade, crossed his arms and shrugged.

"You act like I couldn't still crush you, little boy," Yama said, reaching over the counter, and ruffling Hiro's perpetually messy hair. "Just because I'm out of bot fighting doesn't mean I can't still call on my boys to kick out rabble rousers. So if I were you, I'd quit rousing rabbles." Hiro scowled as Yama's obviously amused expression, and turned to Baymax. The large vinyl robot was fiddling with the mechanism on the token machine.

"Baymax, stop playing with that," Hiro huffed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "You know we don't have any money."

"It says to insert cash here, to receive tokens," Baymax chirped, as Hiro rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, and that's the whole problem." He pulled his pockets inside out, revealing how barren they were. "Nada. Zilch. No cash. And this is the only bath house that allows tattoos, so Yama you gatta let this one slide, dude!" He rounded on the bath house operator again, begging this time. "I can't go to the cheap ones, they won't let me in!"

"Shoulda thought of that when you got inked, huh?" Yama said, a chuckle on the edge of his voice. Hiro scowled.

"You're one to talk, 'Yama'. Like that stands for anything but Yamaguchi-Gumi."

"Hey hey hey!" The big man laughed at this, holding up his hands. "I left that life waaaay behind me! 'Sides, that's why I run my own bath house. Nowhere else would let me in with all my tattoos!"

"That's what I'm saying, man!" Hiro felt like he'd had this conversation a million times; the very few public bath houses that allowed tattoos were so insanely expensive, that the only one Hiro could ever barter the price at was Yama's. But it seemed he wouldn't be having any luck tonight. "You're a real asshole, you know that?"

"So I'm told, little boy." Reclining, Yama laced his fingers together and set his hands on his large stomach. "Now beat it, kid. House rules. Gatta pay to stay." He winked at that, and Hiro finally gave in. Motioning for Baymax to follow, he sulked his way back out to the main street, and started walking.

"After all I did for that guy, can you believe that, Baymax?" he asked, shoving his hands back into his pockets.

"Money is usually exchanged for goods and services," Baymax said, having trouble keeping up with Hiro. "And we have no money, currently."

"I knooow!" He ran a hand through his hair, and sighed. It was true; a 19 year old in college working full time in both microtechnology and crime fighting didn't have many money-making job opportunities. Any money he did get usually went towards either junk food or new parts and pieces, and that left little else for leisure-time activities. "You'd think the leader of Big Hero 6, savior of San Fransokyo would get paid for his services, but noooo, it's "unethical" to charge for saving things all the time." He added air quotes to his little rant, and rolled his eyes. In reality, he wasn't really that bitter about not getting paid for anything, but in this moment, he would have appreciated a little cash flow. "Makes me wish I was still in bot-fighting."

"That is illegal," Baymax said.

"I know, buddy. I know." As the two made their way down the dimly lit sidewalk towards home, Hiro paused at the entrance to an alleyway, contemplating which direction to take. Continuing on the main road was probably a little safer, but cutting through the back alley was most definitely faster. "Whatdya say we take a short cut?" Hiro asked, scratching at the inactive earpiece he wore. Baymax's static expression did not change.

"It is inadvisable," Baymax replied, but Hiro just rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, Baymax, live a little! This'll be faster."

"I am a robot. I am not technically alive." He was dragged by one arm down the alley, and another. Hiro knew exactly where he was going as he took several lefts and rights, weaving his way between buildings, stepping in and out of shadows. He wasn't particularly worried about anything bad happening; he had Baymax, after all. And he always had backup at a moment's notice. No, Hiro wasn't worried.

"Ah, man, this takes me back," he said, smiling as his eyes adjusted to the low light. He remembered several fights he'd hustled in this exact alleyway. He'd never gotten tired of that, and it was such easy money. He briefly wondered if they would be stumbling on a fight anywhere near here, and tried to perk up his ears to pick up any cheering or voices in the maze of allies. He felt like he could take in a bot fight or two tonight, since he wouldn't be soaking in a bath house.

"Hey, buddy, wanna scan for nearby groups of people?" Hiro asked, nudging Baymax's round belly with his elbow. "Maybe the night's not totally wasted."

"I will scan now," Baymax said, his head sweeping from side to side. His upgraded sensor peered through the various buildings around them, filtering out the inhabitants to pick up the heat signatures of others wandering the alleyways. "Two large groups detected," he said, pointing down an alley to their right. "The closest in .3 miles East."

"Sweet!" Nodding to Baymax to follow, Hiro took off in that direction, attitude lifting slightly. This really reminded him of the good old days. He may have been taller now, but he still felt a little giddy, like he had when he was a kid. Rounding a corner, Hiro was slightly puzzled why this so-called group wasn't noisier. Bot fights were usually loud affairs. His query was soon answered, though, when he realized what he was looking at wasn't a bot fight. It was still illegal activity, but not a bot fight.

"Hey!" Hiro froze when the shady figure turned towards him. It was several men, two of which looked to be in questionable shape. A handful of dark-clothed figures formed a semi-circle around what appeared to be their victims, but when the first one turned, Hiro only just barely saw him shove something into his inner coat pockets.

"Baymax, run!" Hiro said, turning on his heel and scrambling out of the alleyway. Several pairs of footsteps followed him, and he could hear the drug pushers shouting for him to stop in Japanese. With Baymax in tow, he reached to his ear and switched the earpiece on. "Guys, I could use a little back up, anyone on!?" he called into the piece, skidding around another corner, still pursued.

"Hiro?" The voice belonged to Honey Lemon, and she sounded utterly confused. "Hiro, what's going on? Are you and Baymax out alone tonight!?"

"We didn't mean to be," he replied, one of the pushers gaining on him.

"What's going on!?" It was Gogo this time, and she sounded pissed. "Hiro, what the hell did you do?"

"Maybe I could explain later," he said, vaulting over a few trashcans, "and someone could help me now?" He shouted into the earpiece, glancing over his shoulder at the Baymax, who was attempting to restrain one of the pushers. Just as the rbot looked up to Hiro, a flash of color caught Hiro's attention. It moved a bit too fast for him to keep up with, but it did whiz right past him, throwing him off balance. He hit the alley wall on his side, stumbling to the ground. "What the-" he said, whipping his head around to try and see what had happened. What he was expecting was not what he got; it was a woman, a small one at that, in what looked like it had once been a traditional yukata, but had been altered nearly beyond recognition. She was wearing what looked like roller skates, and she came to a halt between him and the fastest of the drug pushers, her stance low, and solid.

The first knife flew from her sleeve too fast to see, and whizzed past the pusher's face, slicing his cheek. As he stumbled back from pain and shock, the woman sped forward, and performed one of the most graceful roundhouse kicks Hiro had ever witnessed. It sent the pusher flying.

"Whoa, hey, what-" Hiro tried to get up, holding out a hand, but the woman wasn't done. Two more knives zipped out from her sleeves, pinning one of the pushers to the wall behind him by his jacket. The third pusher took off running. Her shoulder's visibly relaxed once the danger had passed, and she rolled slowly up to the pinned drug pusher. He flinched as she reached up, but all she did was riffle around in his pockets. A manicured hand brushed a few strands of black hair that had fallen out of her intricate top bun as the other shoved a few baggies full of the white substance into her kimono. It was only then, with a scowl on her face, did she turn to look at Hiro.

"Who…are you?" was all he managed to stutter, in shock and awe of this girl. "Who were they? Why did you-" he was cut off suddenly, as one of the girl's throwing knives whizzed past his ear, imbedding itself into the mortar of the brick wall behind him. He flinched, his hand going up to inspect his ear; it was cut, but not badly.

"Stay out of Fujita business!" the girl snarled, her eyebrows knitting together angrily over her deep amber eyes. Throwing one last snarl at the whimpering man pinned to the wall, she spun on her heel and sped off further into the alleyway.

"What…the hell was that!?" Hiro finally asked, looking up as Baymax shuffled over. One of his arms had been deflated, no doubt from the knives the girl had been throwing around.

"She was 5'4," Baymax said, thinking himself to be helpful. "Blood type B negative, 128 pounds, 7 ounces. Her body scan was clean, but she was carrying a vast array of illegal narcotics. She has an allergy to pet dander, and shellfish."

"I feel like I need to upgrade your 'patient confidentiality' module," Hiro sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hiro, the hell is happening!?"

"Yeah, talk to us, buddy! It was Gogo and Wasabi over the communicators, which brought Hiro's head down from the clouds.

"I don't really know," he admitted, motioning for Baymax to follow him out of the alley. "But man, does Baymax have some footage to show you guys!"

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**This is a short one, sorry guys. As always, reviews always appreciated!**


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